The Rise of the Inferno
by veryitaple
Summary: Two years have passed since the war ended, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko continue their quest to defeat the last supporters of Ozai's goverment. But soon find themselves prey to the return of Azula who will stop at nothing to have her ultimate revenge.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

The sun was just rising on the island of Taipa. But it was a cold sun, filled with emptiness. A cold that really bothered the Taipa inhabitants since they were always used to the tropical whether of the Fire Nation. It was too early to complain, though, no one was up yet. Every peaceful Taipa citizen was at their beds, under their comfortable and warm blankets. Except for Lee Kan, a young twenty year old security guard of the Taipa Mental Institution who was forced by the absurd and frustrating duty of watching the building as he stand by and stare into nothingness, while wearing that small uniform that only covered his chest and waist. He was holding his arms, shivering with the low temperatures of that morning.

The Taipa Mental Institution was the most respectable and qualified establishment of the whole world, which, of course, took care of the crazy people that now slept in their metal, empty and small bedrooms. The building was quite enormous and was located very far from the island's town so that, in the nights, no one could hear the disturbing screams of unexplainable rage that came from the inside of those rusty metal walls. The security guards that worked there had to stand those screams every day, while thinking over and over why they were there. Lee Kan was no exception. At least he didn't have to stand the screams right then, since everyone was asleep.

Lee Kan decided to walk a little bit in order to warm up himself. He walked through the empty halls of the institution while putting a hand on the wall and feeling that the walls were more freezing than him. He took a glance at one of the cells and saw old Faing, an ex admiral of the Fire Nation who had been in service for more than forty years. Lee Kan still remembered the day they brought him in. The healers said that he was suffering from a strong shock after Fire Lord Zuko had announced the war to be over. But Faing just got worse every day, and he now lay in a white bed, sucking his thumb like a little kid. Lee Kan couldn't blame Faing too much still, he was in a shock too when the Fire Nation, at the brink of victory, at an inch from world domination just retreated and suddenly apologized to every other nation and returned their lands to them. Lee Kan's dream had always been to go to war in the Earth Kingdom and he was quite disappointed when he learned this could never be true. These thoughts reminded Lee Kan of another crazy person that had arrived to the mental institution about two years ago and who Lee Kan had always dreamed of serving in battle.

The security guard walked inside the high security part of the building, where the most dangerous and most insane prisoners were. He knew which was the cell, number 784. From the day she first arrived she was hot news in the whole island. A member of the royal family, there in the small and forgettable island of Taipa, who would have thought? And ever since he had laid eyes on her, he knew she wasn't crazy, she was a complete genius, but she was just… strange.

He arrived at her cell and looked through the small window there. Her cell was the biggest, but it was also the darkest. It also helped that the walls were black because of all the fire that had been released inside of it. She had no bed; she had burned it. She used to take the ashes of the clothes they gave her to wear and paint her nails with it. Lee Kan couldn't believe that that woman had once been a beautiful and determined war machine. She was still dangerous, though, her fire bending was irrepressible. They had even tried to get her into one of the Boiling Rock coolers, which were supposed to take away her bending for a week, but it didn't work on her. Well, how could it? She was one of the most powerful fire benders in the world, perhaps the most powerful. But she couldn't control it, she couldn't control herself.

"What's the reason you keep staring at me like if I were some painting?"

Lee Kan took a step back from the door with fear. She spoke to him, clearly, she was showing some progress. It still didn't matter, if she ever healed, she would just go back to a prison, and that only meant, no more happy meals.

"Come closer." She called him.

But Lee Kan couldn't, from now on he would be afraid of looking into the room with ashes, he knew it. He was about to leave when he heard her calling him back again.

"Please…" She whispered.

The girl was now pressing her face against the small window on her cell's door. Lee Kan looked at her face filled with ash and got a bit closer, feeling sympathy for the fire bender. The princess' eyes where yellow, and where very powerful and intimidating, Lee Kan was afraid to stare at them for too long, but he did anyway, not knowing what he was getting into.

"You are a good fire bender, a good soldier." Said the girl. "I've hared the way you talk. I see the way you think."

"But I don't understand what you are thinking." Said Lee Kan with absolute fear. "I don't even know if you just want to kill me."

"Believe me, killing you would not be favourable for me at all." She said but Lee Kan sensed some lies in her words and he took a small step back. "Don't even think to walk away!" She screamed outraged. "No one walks away from me again!"

But now Lee Kan had even more reasons to get out of there running, but he didn't, he had wanted to meet the Fire Nation Princess a long time ago, ever since he had been spoke of her beauty and intelligence.

"You've been hurt." Said Lee Kan, trying to understand a reason behind her actions.

"In much more ways than one." Said the princess. "By everyone I know."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, then you are weak!" Screamed the girl. "Only the week feel sorry, so don't lie to me, because you are not weak! You are strong. You should feel as I feel."

"How do you know we both feel the same way?" Asked Lee Kan.

"Because I'm a people person." Answered her. "I've hared you talk, I've hared you receive all the news about how our great nation is slowly collapsing. How the traitors are now in charge and how the government is turning a hundred years of victory and glory into a hundred years of darkness and corruption. Oh, yes, you feel as I feel."

Lee Kan looked around in order to see if there was anyone listening then he got much more closer to the Fire Nation Princess.

"Maybe… maybe you're right. Maybe this is all some big pile of crap. I just want… I just wanted to go down fighting, for my people, my nation."

"Sounds like if what you want is a war." Whispered the teenage girl with those deranged eyes.

"Yes! Wait, no… no…" Lee Kan was now grabbing his hair with frustration. "I just… look, my father was a Fire Nation soldier, and now with all this propaganda and this people saying that this war was just a big mistake… It makes my father transform from a hero into a villain. And that's just…"

"We are all villains now. And forever we'll be unless we do something about it." Said the princess.

"But what?" Sighed Lee Kan.

"Let me out." Whispered Azula. Lee Kan looked at her in the eye and she noticed in that second that he was not going to free her, she had to keep talking. "Let me out and we'll both have what we want. I'll have my revenge and you… you will become the hero that freed the icon, the legend, the saviour of this nation. The last real seed of fire."

Lee Kan actually found himself considering it, he was sweating now, he was extremely nervous. This choice would determine how history would judge him. Finally, he listened to his father's advices and answered.

"I'll do it. But I want to help, I want to help bringing Fire Lord Zuko down." Said Lee Kan. Azula smiled with an enormous greed and a great sense of happiness filled her empty heart.

"Be certain of that. Now let me out."

Lee Kan went for the keys he has attached to his waist, but then hesitated.

"What?" Asked Azula impatiently.

"It's not goanna work. I can't get you out of here." Said Lee Kan.

"What do you mean you can't, you rat?! You are holding the keys right now!"

"Yes I can get you out of the cell, but not out of the building." Said Lee Kan. "There are loads of guards outside and…"

"Darling, just open the cell, I'll take care of the guards." Grinned Azula creepily.

"Wait, you can't hurt them! They are my friends!" Said Lee Kan horrified.

"No one will get hurt, I promise." Said Azula impatiently. "Now, would you please open the damn door?"

Lee Kan didn't think when he did it. He inserted the key into the keyhole of the security door and turned it. Immediately all the lockers disabled and an automatic bell began to ring.

"Oh, no! The alarm! I'm sorry, I didn't knew this would happen!" Screamed Lee Kan moving and looking everywhere around expecting guards to pop up at any minute.

Azula didn't care, at least not yet. She placed a foot outside what had bee her prison for the last two years and felt the sun's light, which didn't enter into her room, invade her whole body. She took a deep breath and raised her arms with her eyes closed. She was free, and many would not like that.

"What do we do now?!" Screamed Lee Kan who seemed to be in the middle of a break down.

"Calm down!" Shouted Azula releasing herself from her trance. "You need to take me to the basement, now!"

"Alright, follow me."

Both started running down the hall, Azula had problems running, she hadn't run in a long time. But her determination helped greatly. Azula stoped running for a second when they pass through a big window and the fire bender approached it.

"What are you doing?"

Azula pointed both her fingernails into the sky through the window and from them emerged a blue fire that escaped the building and illuminated the outside. As soon as this happened, Lee Kan started to hear small crashes everywhere in the building.

"Someone is attacking the building!" Shouted Lee Kan terrified, and then he looked at Azula and realized she didn't seem surprised. "Who are they?"

"Old treacherous friends, as always."

They kept running and reached the stairs, they quickly started the descent. Lee Kan was much more calm now but those explosions disturbed him, where there catapults firing at the institution? What was going on? Whatever was happening, there was one thing certain: there was no turning back.

They reached the basement were they kept all the medicine and drugs for the patients and now, Azula seemed even more impatient. Her left hand was shaking uncontrollably and she tried to hold it with her right one, she didn't seem to care though and still had that creepy grin on her face.

The wall of the basement suddenly blew up. All the rocks fell over the floor and many of the barrels, which contained medicine where all over the place. Azula seemed to have expected this and she seemed happier than ever. Lee Kan looked at the hole that had been made in the wall and saw a long and dark tunnel and two people running towards them from the inside.

"My lady, time to go!" Shouted one of the men that had entered from the tunnel.

Lee Kan took a moment to appreciate him. He was an earth bender, the earth kingdom's symbol was stamped on his robes and he dressed the colours, green and black. Also, he seemed to use a strange round hat very typical of the Earth Kingdom.

Azula waited no more and ventured inside the tunnel, running, alongside the earth benders. Lee Kan decided he might as well follow. The four of them were running through the tunnel brightened only by Azula's fireball on her hand. Lee Kan was extremely nervous now.

"Where are we going?" He asked and after nobody answered he realized that had been a very foolish question.

They ran for five more minutes and finally they reached the end of the tunnel. One of the earth benders removed the earth above him and the other one raised the tunnel's floor up on the surface. Lee Kan coughed and looked around him. There were now three more of this strange looking earth benders and they were talking to Azula very seriously.

"It was easier than expected." Said one of the earth benders. "We were careful as you told us so."

"Very good. I want to offer, first, my apologize for that little inconvenient two years ago, but I assure you, I still believe now that trust does not exist in your allegiance. But I know you and I have common interests." Said Azula sharply, the earth benders said nothing, they just lowered their heads. Suddenly, one earth bender asked:

"Who's this?" He referred to Lee Kan, who was approaching to introduce himself.

Azula shot fire from her fingertips without even turning right into Lee Kan's heart. The security guard dropped dead quite immediately.

"Does that answer your question?" She asked very serious.

The earth bender swallowed in panic and agreed nodding. Azula smiled weakly, it was not a smile, it was a disfiguration of her own face, a fake emotion.

"Know this, there is no place for the weak here, only for those with strength. Now, bring me some clothes, this stupid white uniform is really annoying."

"Of course, princess." Said one of the Dai Li before leaving.

"Let's go." Said Azula then. "We have people to kill."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

The waters were restless that night, but the Water Tribe ship would not move from the wave's strong hits. There was a full moon present in the darkest of skies being stared by a boy standing on the ships' deck. He was eight teen but seemed more troubled than any person on that ship. In his hands laid a small bison whistle and in his other hand a compass and some charts. He approached the whistle to his mouth and blew. An ultrasonic sound came from the whistle and after a few seconds the boy stopped blowing.

A girl about the same age emerged from bellow deck and looked up at the boy. The teenager looked back at her but ignored her. She walked towards him and put a soft hand on his back.

"Is everything alright, Sokka?" She asked in a caring way. "You seem too worried."

Sokka sighed, then looked at her and kissed her gently on the lips. The brown haired girl kissed him back but they parted almost immediately. Sokka looked at the water beneath him with a worrying stare.

"They should've been back by now." Said the Water Tribe boy.

"They are fine, you'll see. They normally take longer than expected to do this kind of jobs." Suki said while rubbing Sokka's back. "Let's just go back to bed."

"I'll be right there." Sokka said and Suki knew then that it was a lost cause. Ever since the war ended and years passed, Sokka had become more and more mature, silent and intelligent. And now, it was like he was a total different person. Suki walked away silently driven by her immense tiredness, but Sokka's voice stopped her. "Azula broke out." Suki turned around with a stunned look on her face.

"What?" She asked returning to his side slowly.

"She escaped the mental facility she was held in, in the island of Taipa." Sokka informed her in a sinister voice.

"When did this happen?" She asked concerned.

"Three days ago, I got a messenger hawk from Poi. Apparently earth benders just started randomly throwing rocks at the facility creating a diversion, while the guards where trying to figure out just what the heck was going on, other earth benders broke her free." Sokka said and then looked at Suki in the eye. "That's why I'm worried, all this corrupted generals, admirals and politicians are now going to follow her. Azula will attempt to climb her way up to the throne again, I bet. She's goanna cause a lot of trouble."

"Sokka, Azula is insane, that's why she ended up in Taipa in the first place. No one will follow her, she can't think clearly anymore." Suki said. Sokka looked up at the moon.

"That's what worries me the most."

A Fire Nation ship was quietly moving through the water, approaching another small wooden ship that awaited her there. On board of the wooden ship were pirates who didn't seem quite happy to see the Fire Nation ship approaching them, as they should be.

"About time." Muttered the pirate named Baker while the captain stepped up and watched as the boarding bridge was placed in order to connect both the Fire Nation ship and the pirate's ship.

A Fire Nation general named Fong, who was in his middle thirties, was crossing the bridge now, followed by two fire benders. All wearing the new uniform that Fire Lord Zuko had commanded to wear, claiming that the old Fire Nation skull masks were too "evil". The captain approached the Fire Nation general with an angry look on his face.

"You are three hours late." The pirate said. "We were about to leave." Lied the captain with his rusty voice.

"We took longer because we had to make sure we were not being followed." The young general said.

"You were followed?" Asked the pirate in panic taking a step back.

"Relax!" Said the general raising a hand. "I wouldn't have come if there was risk of getting busted! No one suspects I'm here now."

"You better hope not. For both of us sakes, I've heard that the Fire Lord is condemning everyone who plots against him with a death penalty." Said the pirate. "I heard they executed Yang two weeks ago in the plaza and that then they hanged him on the palace entrance, as a reminder."

"What?" The general started to laugh with enormous jesting. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! The Fire Lord is anything but ruthless; he wasn't even able to kill his own sister! And after everything she had done! Now please, comedy aside, let's get this over with. Do you have what I want?" He asked maliciously.

"I do." Said the pirate making a sign to Baker who approached both of them with a small chest. "It took quite forever to find and quite a lot people to deal with." The captain took the chest and revealed it's content to the general, who opened his eyes with amusement and smiled greedily. He extended a hand to grab it but the captain closed the chest and retreat it. "So the price has doubled."

"Doubled?! What?" Screamed the general outraged. "I don't have double, I only have what you asked for!"

"You'll have to get it then, send us a messenger hawk when you have the money. We'll meet here." The captain said abruptly. The general seemed to be losing his temper.

"Don't challenge us, filthy scum!" Yelled the general and immediately four more fire benders crossed the metal bridged and stood next to the general prepared for the battle.

The captain drew a sword and every other pirate on the ship now seemed to be carrying a weapon.

"Come on boys, don't make a scandal."

The captain and the general had eyes for none but for each other, and they both seemed ready to explode. Suddenly the pirate captain smiled.

"You want the product?" Asked in a provocative way. "Then have it!"

The chest flew through the air and head towards the general. He grabbed it with his clumsy hands as he expressed his surprise, and without seeing it coming, the captain's blade stick right into his stomach. The general fell to the floor screaming from pain, but he could still hear the fire blasts his men were shooting. The deck was now a battlefield and fire was everywhere. The general put a hand over his wound and realized it was not fatal, the blade had penetrated the corner of his body and no vital organs had been harmed, but if he didn't get attention soon, it could be serious.

"I'll take this, thank you!" Said the captain as he grabbed the chest and looked at the general who now was lying on the floor with panic in his face. The pirate raised his sword and prepared to give death to Fong.

"No you are not!"

A wave of water emerged from the ocean and cleaned the whole deck putting all the fire away. The pirate had a small second to look at his right and see the great whip of water hit him right in his face. The pirate collapsed and the general was now soaked and shocked. In the middle of the deck, stood a young girl, a water bender. Two fire benders started firing at her immediately fearing that she could be who they thought she was. The girl bended the water in the floor and created a big wall of liquid to protect her. She moved her arms and the wall stroked the fire benders. Both of them were thrown off their feet, moaning.

Katara smiled and quickly avoided pirate Baker attack who had recognized her immediately. Katara took a step back.

"I know you!" He shouted with anger.

"I know you too." Said Katara and she kicked the pirate in his face.

Two more pirates launched against Katara and she quickly defended herself. The general knew this was his chance; he took the chest that the captain had dropped and grabbed it as quickly as he could and ran up the bridge towards his ship with desperation. Katara saw this and acted immediately, she bended another water whip and she grabbed the general's feet with it, then she pulled and the general was pulled away from any hopes of escaping. But the general wasn't done, he threw the chest that was between his hands and this landed on the metal deck of his ship. The second officer in command aboard the ship was now in charge of taking the product back to the Fire Nation and try to escape the ambush, he was a capable man, so Fong expected he could do well.

"Take it!" He screamed before falling into Katara's claws. The water tribe girl saw the fire bender's wound and noticed the Fire Nation ship that was escaping as fast as it's engines could. She knew she had no choice; she healed the general in a matter of seconds and then froze his body in ice. But the Fire Nation ship was now far away and Katara had no chance of reaching it. The general smiled at Katara's frustration.

"You silly girl." He said. "You've failed."

"I may have." Katara said and then looked at the general. "But they won't."

The second officer in command aboard the Fire Nation ship grabbed the chest and looked at the pirate's ship that was now far away, getting close to the horizon. What had gone wrong? But the officer Jey had no time to find out, he had to return that chest to the Fire Nation as quickly as he could, it was a matter of life and death.

He looked at the crew who was staring at him and sighed. "We need to go full speed ahead." Said Jey. "If they were ambushed by water benders that means that they have followed us, our priority is to return the chest safely to General Kai, is more important than our own lives!"

Jey said this and ran right to the captain's cabinet. He took a piece of paper and started writing as quickly as he could, if they were captured by this agents, General Kai needed to know. He was about to finish the letter when someone entered the cabinet; it was just some random crewmember.

"Sir I think we've lost them… whoever they were." Said the man. "There are no signs of ships or boats pursuing us, sir."

"Have you checked the skies?" Asked Jey looking up at him.

"The skies? No, impossible." Said the officer, containing his laugh. "It can't be a war balloon or an air ship, it would make too much noise."

"Check the skies." Said Jey and he kept writing his letter.

"Sir, let me… OH MY--!"

A portion of metal had detached from the cabinet's wall and was moving on it's own. It was shaped like a human and it seemed like a midget metal man. It walked towards Jey and hit him fully in the face with its metal fist. Jey was propelled out of the way and hit the wall with a big bang, unconscious. The crewmember started running but the metal man moved incredibly fast and it grabbed his head and slammed it against a wall, he too fell unconscious. The metal man grabbed the chest and started running towards the ship's navigation room. The steersman was there, and when he saw the metal thing running through the room and jumping from the balcony he had his eyes as open as he had never had them in his whole life.

The metal person landed on the ship's deck and the impact left a big dent. Five fire benders surrounded the metal man immediately and fired at the same time. The metal man protected himself with his arms and legs but let the chest slip away, which disappeared in the deck's darkness. But the fire was causing the metal to heat, a lot. And if that was a metal suit and someone was actually in there, he or she would be roasted in a matter of seconds.

Soon, another fire bender joined the cooking of the metal man, Jey, whose punch hadn't been enough to take him out.

"FIRE! FIRE!" He yelled with his nose bleeding and his face deranged.

Some screams were emerging from the metal person and the fire benders kept shooting now knowing there was an effect to their actions. But the burning didn't last for too long, suddenly one of the fire benders was flying in the air, and a couple of seconds later, he was swimming in the ocean. Jey and the fire benders stopped firing and looked back.

"What the--?" Said Jey and suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and soon, water surrounded it and froze it. Jey looked at both his arms, both were now buried in ice, trapped in the frozen water. "My arms!"

The other fire benders started firing at the darkness, but whoever had done it was not there. Jey seemed to be in panic, he moved uncontrollably and started hitting his arms against the floor trying to break the ice, but this was useless. The ship's deck was in absolute darkness, and the metal men was now gone. The fire benders looked around, hands up in their basic fighting form. The only thing they could hear was wind.

"Show yourself!" Yelled one of the officers. He turned around and saw a shape in the darkness, he started firing at it. The unknown man was blocking his attacks with his hands and arms as he approached at the officer, so he had to be a--. "He's a fire bend—!"

He was quickly silenced. Jey listened to these words and calmed himself down. A fire bender? That was impossible, the guy was indeed a water bender. Unless, there was more than one guy. Jey looked around and found something, the chest. It was lying on the floor, forgotten.

"Jey?" Asked the youngest of the fire benders named Li. "Are you there?"

A wave of water came out of the blue and froze Li to the floor. Fire started to come out from everywhere and one of the fire benders was able to see what they were dealing with.

"It's… It's the Avatar!" He screamed but a quick but powerful breeze of air launched him over board.

The last fire bender looked around and saw the Avatar walking towards him. It was the first time he had ever seen him in his life and he was extremely surprised. It was just a kid, a bald kid with an innocent face. In fact, he was smiling, but it was not an evil smile, it was a friendly smile. This made the fire bender feel superior and prepared to fire. He shot a big fireball that Aang quickly blocked with a movement of his leg. The fire bender prepared to fire again but was stopped by the Avatar's words.

"Please stop!" Aang said. "What's the point? You can't beat me. Give up now and you won't have to get hurt like the others."

"Sure." Said the fire bender sarcastically but before he fired at Aang someone hit him in the neck and he fell to the floor unconscious.

"Next time, don't flirt with the bad guys, twinkle toes." Said Toph as she removed the burned metal from her skin.

"He was goanna give up." Said Aang as he looked at the unconscious man on the floor.

"Yeah right, in Aangiland." Joked Toph. "I almost got toasted. Good thing you came along."

"It was nothing." Replied Aang. "Do you have the chest?"

"What chest?"

"There they are!"

The sun was rising and the water was opening the way to both ships that were approaching the Water Tribe ship. Sokka had fallen asleep on his ship's deck, but Suki's shout had waked him up. He stood up immediately ignoring his enormous sleep. Appa was flying above both ships that were coming at full speed towards him.

"Alright!" Screamed Sokka happily excited. Aang took off from the Fire Nation's ship deck with the help of his glider and flew towards the Water Tribe ship and landed right next to Sokka. Sokka had the urge to hug the younger kid. "You did it!"

"Whoa! Calm down!" Said Aang but he was hugging him back anyway. "What's the big deal?"

"Nothing." Lied Sokka smiling. "Were there any complications? Is everyone alright?"

"Everything came out fine. Unfortunately…" Said Aang lowering his head. Sokka suddenly took him by his monk's outfit and pulled him closer.

"What happened?! It was Azula wasn't she?! I am sorry Aang, I should have told you!" Yelled Sokka. Suki approached them and separated them, she looked as Sokka angrily.

"Sokka are you crazy? Calm down!" Yelled Suki. Aang would have said hello to her but what Sokka had just said caught his attention.

"What happened?" Asked Aang petrified. Sokka looked down knowing he had stepped over himself.

"Azula broke out from the mental institution she was held in three days ago." Sokka said and Aang took a deep breath, but instead of air he breathed fear. "She is out there right now, and I was afraid that she would try hurting you or attacking you last night. I haven't slept for the last two days."

"Sokka." Said Suki hugging him. "Stop worrying about Azula. What is it that you fear from her anyway?"

"You should know more than anyone." Sokka told him. "She took you captive, she tortured you… She told you… that I'd died. She mentally broke you."

Aang had never known about all this, and the news about Azula's escape was certainly unexpected and inconvenient. And to be quite honest, Aang had always feared her more than he feared Ozai himself, but he was not nearly half as troubled as Sokka.

"Zuko will make sure to capture her again and this time, let's hope, put an end to her ways once and for all." She said and she avoided looking at Aang with an aggressive look. "It's very clear now that no prison in the world can hold her."

"You are right, it will be fine." Said Sokka but still unconvinced, then he looked at Aang. "You alright? You said there was a problem, what happened?"

"Well, one of the officers escaped in a boat with the product they were buying from the pirates." Aang said. "We don't know what they were buying so..."

"It doesn't matter, we have what we wanted." Sokka said smiling. "And that is evidence that Fong has dealings with pirates. That's more than enough."

"Actually we got something even better." Aang said smiling and he revealed a letter he had been keeping inside his robes. "One of the officers wrote this before we ambushed them, it's a letter to General Kai that pretty much incriminates him and associates him with the other general we captured."

Sokka took the letter and read it, it was incomplete, but it was enough.

"Nothing we didn't already knew, but this will serve as hard evidence in the case against General Kai. Zuko will be pleased!" Said Sokka anxiously. Aang looked away angrily.

"Like he doesn't always get pleased." Whispered Aang aggressively crossing his arms. Sokka noticed this but he pretended he didn't.

"So… what about Azula? Are you going to pursuit her?" Asked Sokka. Aang thought about that pushing away his troubled thoughts.

"I rather keep hunting down this traitors, it's much more productive." Aang declared. Sokka shrugged.

"Your choice." He said.

Two more Fire Nation ships arrived about an hour later to the encounter, the ships took all the suspects and headed to the Fire Nation in order to begin the interrogation. The captain of the ships handed Sokka a message coming directly from none other than the Fire Lord himself. Right then, however, all five friends were having a cup of tea on the ship's deck.

"Azula escaped?" Asked Katara surprised. "How?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Asked Toph. "She is a freaking maniac, she must have killed everybody."

"Katara, what do you think?" Asked Aang. "Do you think this is something to be worried about?"

"I don't know." Answered the girl. "On one side, yes, because this rats are now going to do all her will and service she wants and the woman must be filled with an intense need for revenge. But on the other side… well, last time I saw her, she seemed defeated, lost and… hopeless. She was demented; she wasn't acting like a person. If she remains on that state, she can't be much of a threat to anybody."

"You know what's funny?" Asked Toph giggling. "Zuko send her to a place to recover and heal. That's like sending an assassin to train so that he can do better with you next time."

"Everything will be fine, guys." Said Suki smiling. "Azula is all alone."

"You are right, we have each other. Azula can't compete with that." Katara said. "I just wish Zuko was here."

Aang looked at her hurt. Sokka then approached his friends with a big smile.

"Then your wish will soon come true, because he's just asked to see us all." Said Sokka, everyone looked at him surprised. "Especially you Katara."

Katara blushed and Aang started to sank his nails on his flesh so strong that he started to bleed.

"Where is he?" Asked Toph.

"He's in Ba Sing Se in a meeting with the Earth King, he says he'll meet us tomorrow at the tea shop." Sokka said.

"Great!" Said Toph happily.

Suki stood up with a worried look.

"I am afraid I can't go, I am sorry." She said and she really did looked sorry. Aang saw his chance and took it.

"Yeah, I can't go either." He said standing up.

"Aang." Katara said dead serious and with a rude expression. She was warning the young Avatar.

"No Aang, you can't pull away from this one this time, he specially requested to see you, he said he really needs to talk to you." Sokka stoped him at last. Aang said nothing and he sat down. Sokka then turned to Suki. "And why is it that you can't come?"

"I'm meeting with the girls." Suki said. "Ty Lee has insisted we go see her performance at the circus for about three months now and we finally decided to check it out."

"That's… what I had to do too…" Whispered Aang raising his hand and looking at his friends, his eyes stopped on Katara who looked at him with the worst look she had ever given to him. Aang buried his face between his knees and decided to never look at her again, never.

"Ah… Ok, that's fine. Do you want me to drop you somewhere?" Asked Sokka.

"Yeah, that would be helpful."

Aang took Katara and Toph on the back of Appa and all three of them travelled to Ba Sing Se together, Sokka had to leave Suki a little off course so they split up and Sokka more up north where the other Kyoshi warriors were waiting there for their leader.

"Have a great time." Said Sokka kissing her deeply before she got off the ship. He was about to split from her once more and she hated every time that happened. "Keep an eye open, and use proper make up." Suki laughed and kissed Sokka again. "I am sorry about yesterday… I regret it now, believe me."

"I know you do." Suki said. "Now go with Aang, he needs you help, he needs all the support of his friends. I'm afraid he may be older now than before, but he is still a kid and he was severely hurt."

"All will be well. I hope so." Sokka added. "Whatever needs to come, it'll come and together, we'll be able to face it."

Suki kissed him one more time and reunited with her closest friends, the Kyoshi warriors, who were waiting for her on land. But as Suki saw Sokka's ship sail away into the far dawn, she realized that she felt as she had felt after her first kiss with Sokka, she was filled with love and fear. She feared that she could loose that grace, she feared that she could loose Sokka.

To be continued…


End file.
